Wang Shun Hits 1:56 2IM; Yang Junxuan 1:56 2Free On Day 2 Of Military Games

7TH CISM MILITARY WORLD GAMES

• Saturday, October 19th – Wednesday, October 23rd (swimming portion)
• Wuhan, China
• LCM
• Games website
• Entries
• SwimSwam meet preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

The 2019 Military World Games continued in Wuhan, China, with the host nation remaining atop of the overall swimming medal table. The Chinese squad has earned 22 medals through day 2, including 12 gold, which gives them a monstrous advantage over the next closest nation of Russia.

Russia earned 12 medals through day 2, where Brazil frog-hopped France to enter the top 3 nations with 7 medals, including 1 gold.

MEN’S 200 IM  – FINAL

• GOLD – WANG SHUN (CHN), 1:56.25 *MEET RECORD
• SILVER – QIN HAIYANG (CHN), 1:56.79
• BRONZE – JEREMY DESPLANCHES (SUI), 1:58.76

The men’s 200m IM saw 2 impressive performances by Chinese swimmers, with both Wang Shun and Qin Haiyang knocking down 1:56’s. Wang topped the podium in a 1:56.25 scorcher, with his time here in Wuhan falling only .09 outside of his own national record of 1:56.16 from the 2017 Chinese National Championships.

Wang took bronze in this 200m IM at the 2016 Olympic Games, registering an effort there in Rio of 1:57.05, so his time tonight dips well inside of that outing.

Splits for Wang’s world-leading performance here include 25.45/29.53/34.09/27.18. Qin wasn’t too far behind, notching splits of 25.36/30.58/33.02/27.83 to check-in with a runner-up effort of 1:56.79.

The former Military World Games record stood at Swiss swimmer Jeremy Desplanches‘ time of 1:57.85 from 2017. Tonight Desplanches produced an effort of 1:58.76 to collect bronze.

WOMEN’S 200 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – YANG JUNXUAN (CHN) – 1:56.21 *MEET RECORD
• SILVER – WANG JIANJIAHE (CHN) – 1:58.56
• BRONZE – ANASTASIA GUZHENKOVA (RUS) – 1:58.93

Following up on her 400m free victory last night in new meet record mark of 4:04.42, Wang Jianjiahe claimed silver in this 200m freestyle event to notch another medal for the host country.

Beating her to the wall by over 2 seconds, however, was teammate Yang Junxuan, who fired off a big-time outing of 1:56.21. Splitting 56.80/59.41, Yang’s podium-topping effort overtook the previous meet record time of 1:57.65 set by French swimmer Charlotte Bonnet in 2015.

Tonight, Bonnet touched in 1:59.15 for 4th place behind bronze medalist Anastasia Guzhenkova of Russia, who landed on the podium in 1:58.93.

Yang’s time now takes over as the top performance in the world early in this long course season.

MEN’S 50 FLY – FINAL

• GOLD – OLEG KOSTIN (RUS) – 22.84 *MEET RECORD
• SILVER – KONRAD CZERNIAK (POL) – 23.78
• BRONZE – DANIIL PAKHOMOV (RUS) – 23.82

Russia’s Oleg Kostin put up the 3rd straight meet record of the session, smoking a winning effort of 22.84 to take the men’s 50m fly. That time beat out the previous meet mark of 23.09 set by Henrique Martins 2 years ago.

Kostin’s effort also came within striking distance of his own national record of 22.70 from this year’s World Championships. There in Gwangju, Korea, Kostin took silver in this event.

Kostin now sits as the #1 swimmer in the world in the only time under 23 seconds.

WOMEN’S 100 FLY – FINAL

• GOLD – ZHANG YUFEI (CHN)- 58.59
• SILVER – SVETLANA CHUMROVA (RUS) – 58.81
• BRONZE – DAIENE DIAS (BRA) – 59.08

Zhang Yufei was yesterday’s bronze medalist in the 50m free, but she upgraded that result to gold in this women’s 100m fly sprint on day 2.

Stopping the clock in a time of 58.59, Zhang was able to stay ahead of Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova who snagged silver in 58.81, while Brazil got on the board, courtesy of Daiene Dias‘ 59.08.

Zhang put up a time of 57.93 in Gwangju to finish 13th overall after the semi-finals in this event. Chimrova clocked 57.78 for 11th.

MEN’S 800 FREE – FINAL

• GOLD – JI XINJIE (CHN) – 7:53.65
• SILVER – SERGII FROLOV (RUS) – 7:55.15
• BRONZE – MARC ANTOINE OLIVIER (FRA) – 7:56.51

China continued its dominance with Ji Xinjie taking the men’s 800m free in a time of 7:53.65. That gave him about a 1 1/2 second advantage over Russian Sergii Frolov who touched in 7:55.15 for silver.

Frenchman Marc Atoine Olivier, the 10k bronze medalist from the 2016 Olympic Games, took bronze in 7:56.51.

Ji finished 7th in the 400m free and 21st in the 1500, while Frolov clocked 7:47.32 to finish 7th in this 800m free event at Worlds.

WOMEN’S 50 BREAST – FINAL

• GOLD – SUO RAN (CHN) – 30.74
• SILVER – JHENNIFER CONCEICAO (BRA) – 30.91
• BRONZE – JU JINGYAO (CHN) – 31.43

Although Brazilian national record holder Jhennifer Conceicao led after the prelims of this women’s 50m breast with a morning swim of 30.94, she was edged out for gold by Chinese swimmer Suo Ran come the final. Ran touched in 30.74 to Conceicao’s 30.91, as both represented the only swimmers of the field to get under 31 seconds.

Ju Jingyao registered 31.43 for bronze.

RELAYS

• The Brazilian squad of Marco Ferreira, Andre Calvelo, Fernando Scheffer and Pedro Spajari got the job done to claim gold in the men’s 4x100m free relay. Stopping the clock in a time of 3:14.36, the foursome blew away the previous meet record set by the same nation at 3:16.52 2 years ago. Splits for the men included 49.12 for Ferreira, 48.34 for Calvelo, 48.57 for Scheffer and 48.33 for Spajari.
  • Russia finished 3rd behind China’s silver, but anchor Vladislav Grinev fired off the fastest split of the entire field in 47.24.
• China got it done for the women, with Zhu Menghui, Wang Jianjiahe, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan combined for a new meet record of 3:39.57. Their collective effort broke through the previous mark of 3:42.37 set by Brazil in 2017. Splits included Zhu’s 54.12, Wang’s 54.93, Zhang’s 55.07 and Yang’s 55.45.